Overclocking and Conclusion

Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Maximus VIII Gene motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. While we were able to push the CPU to a 4.67GHz clock speed with a 4.5GHz ring bus speed, we were unable to get the board to run at a base clock speed any higher than 167MHz. When lowered the base clock to its default 100MHz, we were able to push the memory speed to an impressive 3466MHz with the CPU and ring bus running at 4.5GHz. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (2 x 8GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 and 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

167MHz Base Clock Stats

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3200MHz Memory

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Performance

The Maximus VIII Gene motherboard lives up to its ROG namesake with impressive stock and overclocked performance. All of its integrated peripherals and subsystems also exhibit top-notch performance, further reinforcing the board's stellar build quality.

Pricing

As of December 01, the ASUS Maximus VIII Gene motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $228.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $228.99 and from B&H for $228.99.

Conclusion

ASUS did a fine job in designing the Maximus VIII Gene for its ROG board line. The board features a new version of the ROG branding and color scheme, giving it an appealing aesthetic. Further, the mix of features and integrated components on the board make it worthy for consideration as a replacement for a full-sized ATX board. The one tricky placement with the board was with the M.2 slot. While there was really no other place for ASUS to put it, its positioning in between the two PCIe x16 slots could make it hard to access with a graphics card installed in the board.

Strengths

  • Stock performance
  • Overclocking performance
  • Board aesthetics, layout, and design
  • Dual PCIe x16 slots
  • Motherboard manual details and quality
  • UEFI BIOS design and usability
  • Intel GigE network controller performance
  • CMOS battery placement

Weaknesses

  • M.2 port location
  • Lack of integrated Wi-Fi controller

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